November is Lung Cancer Awareness month, and for good reason: lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer death in the US. While lung cancer has multiple causes, about 85% of cases are associated with long-term tobacco smoking. 

Now there’s Axumin (fluciclovine F 18), an FDA-approved positron emission tomography (PET) scan that works by analyzing the metabolic activity specific to prostate cancer. PET is a nuclear medicine imaging test that utilizes a tiny amount of radioactive material, called a radiotracer, that is attracted to tumor cells, enabling earlier cancer discovery than many other types of scans.

As the region’s only comprehensive women’s diagnostic services provider, RAO has replaced all 2D mammography equipment with FDA-approved 3D mammography, also known as tomosynthesis. Women naturally have questions about the difference, and we’re happy to explain the superiority of 3D mammography so you can feel confident about scheduling your routine breast cancer screening. 

RAO’s Women’s Imaging Center (WIC) and TimberRidge Imaging Center want to remind women to maintain a “Rosie” outlook on a riveting subject: early breast cancer detection. Most people know of the importance of finding breast cancer early, when it is most easily and successfully treated. But many don’t know about some of the more sophisticated technologies that arm our dedicated faction of breast imaging subspecialists. 

For most people, hearing the word “biopsy” is unsettling. Luckily, most biopsies turn out to be negative, meaning there are no signs of cancer. Infection, internal injury and other diseases can create similar symptoms, so when your doctor or clinician orders a biopsy, it is important to get checked out as quickly as possible.